A recurring series where we will profile every player on Maryland's roster, counting down to kick-off against William & Mary on September 1. Thanks to OBNUG for the idea.
Today we profile an incoming offensive tackle
Mike Madaras, Freshman, Offensive Tackle
Stats:
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 293
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Twitter: None that we could find.
Collegiate Stats: N/A
High School Stats (Senior Year): N/A
Recruiting Ratings: Four stars by Rivals (#9 in Maryland, #39 OT), 24/7 (#11 in Maryland, #36 OT), ESPN (#4 in Maryland, #20 OT), three stars by Scout (#22 OG)
High School: Good Counsel
Hometown: Olney, Md.
High School Highlights:
How'd He Get to College Park?
Madaras was one of the best players in the state of Maryland last year, and was the first commitment of the Terps' 2012 class, beating Roman Braglio by a day. He was a four-year starter at Good Counsel, starting at right tackle as a freshman before eventually moving over to left tackle, and he earned consensus all-state honors in 2011.
Maryland seemed to be the choice for Madaras from the beginning - when asked by Matt Bracken for his runner-up in the recruiting process, the former Falcon said "Honestly, I have no clue. I don't even know." Besides Maryland, he also received offers from a bunch of other schools, including Michigan, Stanford, and Wisconsin. For offensive linemen, it's hard to think of schools with more prestige, especially when thinking about the recent success of the latter two.
Madaras was recruited to Maryland by Tom Brattan, and cited his relationship with the offensive line coach and the location of the school as his two main reasons for becoming a Terp.
Nickname:
"Magic Mike" Madaras
Career Highlight:
Winning the WCAC championship last year.
Career Lowlight:
Scout ranking him as a three-star offensive guard.
Dream Season:
Madaras breaks through a depressingly weak offensive tackle group, starting at left tackle.
Nightmare Season:
Redshirt.
2012 Prospectus:
Remember all that optimism we all kind of had looking at the depth on defense? That does not apply on the other side of the ball, and it might show more than anywhere else at offensive tackle. Both of Maryland's starting tackles last year, R.J. Dill and Max Garcia, transferred, leaving oft-injured Justin Gilbert (who played guard last season), Nick Klemm and Jake Wheeler as the only tackles on the roster with any game-time experience, two redshirt freshmen in Andrew Zeller and Ryan Doyle hoping for playing time, and Madaras.
We talked briefly yesterday about the decision of whether or not to redshirt promising young offensive linemen. With Nick Brigham, at least there are guys that you should be able to count on in front of him at guard. Here, the tackle position is so wide open that I would be surprised not to see Madaras play this season.
With Maryland's recent rejuvenation in the local recruiting game, the Terps have received a lot of local stars, especially from Good Counsel, who will look to be the face of the program. We'll talk about some of the other guys later in this series, and their chances of playing right away, but Madaras certainly counts as one of those guys. Not only was he one of the best high school football players in the state over the past four years, but he was one of the best offensive tackles in the country last year. With Maryland's current dearth of talent and experience at the position, expect a lot of playing time for Magic Mike.
Up Next:
Our next player went to by far the most prestigious athletic high school in his state. The school has over 120 state championships, and at least one in every sport besides basketball.
ClickClack62 gets another one, breaking the six-way tie for third place.
Standings:
Maryland1206 - 7
kbuts151 - 5
ClickClack62 -2
Terpsfinish - 1
Mdak06 - 1
bubbasparks - 1
clevesanterp - 1
CSB Jack - 1
Everybody else - 0